Open at the Close
by ayushi
Summary: All journeys come to an end, but new beginnings are always around the corner. Collection of five prompts from Pokeshipping Week 2016.
1. Chapter 1

**A/n:** Just my contribution to Pokeshipping week. I'm pretty sure I managed to not stick to the prompt in each of the stories. Some info: Ash and Misty are around 15 in this story, he has just come back from defeating all the champions of whatever 7-10 regions that exist at that point, the two aren't dating yet, Tracey and Daisy are together and so are Brock and Cilan (while they don't really appear in the story I just wanted you to know that for no reason at all).

 **Confessions**

Half the party had moved outside to the lawn, the pleasant Pallet weather had urged the lively guests to scatter all over the well maintained garden of the Ketchum household. Mr Mime could be seen fussing around guests, afraid of someone accidently ruining the hard work of Delia Ketchum, since all of Ash's friends seemed as rowdy to the pokemon as Ash himself. The boy in question however, had decided to linger back, he was half contemplating going back to his room and calling it a day but this part was supposed to be for him so it would be rude for him to just abandon it. So he sat on the stairs leading up to his room and watched the few of his friends who had stayed inside chatter endlessly.

"You sure don't look like a winner right now."

Ash sighed and attempted a smile in reply. The interrupter however did not buy into his feeble attempt. Misty raised a suspicious eyebrow before she settled herself next to him by forcefully making him move. Ash groaned internally, knowing well that his best friend would not leave his side until he told her what was wrong with him.

"Usually you're next to May shoving food down your throat at the speed of light during parties, so you can guess why I find it very disturbing that you're sitting here brooding by yourself," she said.

"I'm not brooding." Ash retorted half-heartedly.

"Then what are you doing?" she asked, not backing down just as Ash had expected.

"I'm thinking."

Misty stared at him for a few seconds before she burst out laughing, her loud reaction caught the eyes of Clemont and Drew, who were standing not too far away from them. The latter just rolled his eyes in response and beckoned for the inventor to follow him out. Clemont looked back at Ash with a confused expression as Misty was still laughing, Ash shrugged and smiled at him well enough to convince the blond to follow Drew out.

"Are you done?" Ash asked, deadpanning.

"I'm sorry, I can't seem to digest this information," Misty said in between laughs, "You're thinking?"

"Yeah Mist, there are a lot of things you don't know about me."

"Well you better start confessing then Ketchum."

There was a mischievous glint in her turquoise eyes as she grinned at him. She was trying to lighten the mood and if it had just been any other day, Ash would have played along and told her some embarrassing story about him and Gary from when they were kids. But today he didn't feel like lying or keeping up pretences.

"Well I've decided to stop looking," he said.

"Looking for what?" Misty asked, confusion replacing the playfulness in her eyes.

"My father."

Silence followed his statement, Misty opened her mouth a few times to say something but she was so stunned that no words came out. Ash wasn't sure why he told her this, he hadn't even talked about this with his mother and yet when the redhead came and sat down next to him today, he felt that he could tell her, _just_ her.

"When…did you start looking?" she questioned, her voice unsure.

"Since I started my journey, I've always been looking for him," Ash replied, "I mean how many other kids do you see waltzing around the many regions of our world endlessly?"

It wasn't really a question and Misty didn't bother to answer, she was quiet again. Ash glanced at her and saw that she looked a little distressed and he immediately regretted bringing this up. She'd just been trying to get him to enjoy his own victory party and he had ended up ruining her mood for probably the rest of the week by opening this can of worms that had been sealed shut for a very long time now. But she had asked him to confess, and this was the only secret he had been holding in.

"So why stop now?"

Ash looked at her again, a little surprised that she had said something. The distressed look had disappeared from her face, now it held determination. Ash told himself that he should be surprised that instead of withdrawing she was pushing forward, but he really wasn't. This was the reason why he had subconsciously chosen to confess to her, because Misty would never take no for an answer, she would never let him back down or give up, she would always tell him to walk ahead even if it meant leaving her behind. As he pieced his reply together he realized that maybe out of all of his friends, Misty was the only one capable of seeing this side of him.

"You know what I remember of him? A smiling face, which has started to resemble my own over the years. I remember him leaving, and my mother telling me that once he achieved his dreams, he'd be back. So I thought, hey why don't I just try catching up to him instead? But I've been everywhere now, Mist, I've reached the end and he isn't there…" Ash hadn't planned to stop there, but he felt Misty take his hands into her own and squeeze them lightly, he hadn't planned to cry but he felt his eyes water. He attempted to blink back the tears, he really didn't want to cry in front of Misty.

"Maybe you've been looking in the wrong places all along, Ash," she said calmly, her hands still tightly entwined with his, "And whether you decide to give up now or start over again, is something that you will have to decide for yourself. But I just think that staying put at Pallet town and starting a gym doesn't really suit you."

Ash scoffed at that, him and Misty had been constantly arguing about him running a gym ever since he announced the decision. The League had offered him the choice of becoming the champion of any region of his choice, but to everyone's surprise he had declined. Misty had been furiously trying to convince him to change his mind saying things like he wouldn't make for a good gym leader or Pallet town would get ruined if it had a gym and other such nonsense. He turned to scowl at her and tell her if she thought that she could use this to change his mind she was dead wrong, but he was met with a gentle smile and once again those annoyingly determined eyes that shone with affection. Ash felt the colour rise in his cheeks as their eyes met and Misty lightly squeezed his hand once again.

"I've been meaning to tell you this," she began, "I've been feeling very cramped around the gym lately. I suppose a long and thorough trip around the world would do me good."

Ash's mouth fell open as he stared at his best friend, "I'm not…not really…sure what you're trying to say is…a little…" he stuttered.

"Oh you know exactly what I'm trying to say." Misty rolled her eyes.

"I can't do that. I already told my mom I'm staying back, what will I tell her?" Ash frowned, this was a crazy idea, he thought to himself. He couldn't possibly just do it all over again.

"Tell her the truth," Misty replied casually.

"No. Are you crazy? We haven't talked about Dad ever since he left!" Ash replied through gritted teeth in order to keep his voice from rising, now getting annoyed by Misty's take on his problem.

"Maybe that's part of the problem," Misty shot back.

"Look she'll just be so lonely if I leave again-" Ash began but Misty cut him off.

"Okay Ash, let me confess something now," she said, "All this time that you were off in Kalos or Alola or wherever, I came to spend time with your mom every week. In fact I now think that I've slept more on your bed than you. And while I was here, there were a lot of things we talked about. Including your father."

"Mom talked to you about Dad? Does she know where he is?"

"No. But she wants nothing more than for him to come back," Misty replied, her voice a quiet whisper.

Ash didn't speak for some time as he ran all the various possibilities of what he could do in his head. If he thought about it calmly Misty's idea wasn't so bad. He could retrace his steps but instead of focusing on pokemon, he could focus on finding his dad. Maybe it won't be as easy finding leads considering all the time that had passed but he was in a better position to do this now than when he was just ten years old, he had friends and acquaintances all over the world, he had mastered the art of understanding of how pokemon talked, the league basically worshipped him, so what was he afraid of?

"Okay," Ash said.

"Okay what?" Misty looked up at him, raising an eyebrow in question.

"Let's do it. Let's go get my dad back." Ash grinned confidently her. The minute he smiled, Misty squealed and put her arms around him, hugging him tightly. Ash stayed still, his face now completely red as he tried to ignore the fact that Misty's hair smelled intoxicatingly good. She pulled away a few seconds later (to his disappointment), her own cheeks flushed pink as she grinned back at him.

"At first I thought, you'd come clean about something totally different." Misty chuckled, lightly punching his shoulder.

"About what?" Ash asked laughing, as he stretched his arms and legs, getting ready to hop off the stairs and find Pikachu so he could share the exciting news with him.

"About kissing Serena, three years ago."

Ash almost tripped over his own foot on the last stair but somehow managed to steady himself and not fall flat on his face, he turned around to face Misty again his face an embarrassing red as he shouted back a reply, " _She_ kissed me! And I didn't even kiss her back! And if I would have seen it coming, I would have definitely stopped her from doing it. I swear I've never ever wanted to kiss Serena."

Misty tried to keep a straight face in order to make Ash suffer just a little bit more but him turning into a blabbering red mess was just too funny a sight to keep her from laughing.

 **Protecting each other**

As the old couple passed by the Ketchum house on their usual morning walk, they couldn't believe how silent it was considering the young boy had only just returned a few weeks ago. The Ketchum family was well known for hosting more people than could possibly fit in that house and always being the centre of ruckus whenever Ash was in town, just last week they had thrown an almost two day long party to celebrate his ultimate victory. And yet this morning an eerie silence had settled over the house, one that could be felt from the outside as well.

"Gramps, I think we should head back to the lab…" Gary muttered, trying to signal his grandfather who was sitting across him at the dining table with his mouth hanging open and staring at Ash. In fact everyone at the table was currently staring at Ash, with the exception of the redhead who had covered her face with her hands.

"Ash, I'm not sure if I heard you correctly," Delia began, a steely smile plastered on her face.

"No, you did mom. I'm going to look for dad and bring him back." Ash repeated himself, this time more loudly and confidently as if fuelled by the disbelief that had spread across the table.

"This is not the time to joke around Ash," Delia started again, her smile more rigid than before.

"I am not joking Mom," he replied, unfazed by the stunned looks he was receiving he continued to dig through his breakfast.

Prof. Oak opened his mouth to say something but then shut it as he glanced at Delia, heeding to his grandson's advice earlier, he cleared his throat and announced, "Well it was a great breakfast, Delia. Thank you for inviting us." Most of their food remained untouched as Gary and Prof. Oak made their exit, Gary turned one last time to look at Ash who passed him a grin and went back to his food making the brunet roll his eyes as he prayed for Mama Ketchum to smack some sense into that idiot. Brock and Cilan also excused themselves, claiming that it was their turn to help Mr Mime around the house today which was a blatant lie as the board had Ash and Misty's name written in blue ink for today. Tracey and Daisy also quietly made the slip together leaving behind only Delia, Ash, Pikachu and Misty at the table.

Ash continued eating reaching very close to finishing the food on his plate, he glanced at Misty who was trying to merge and become one with her chair and asked her if she was going to finish her bit. Misty glared at the raven haired boy and came very close to smacking him in the face with the waffles on her plate, but Delia spoke before she could.

"Ash, please do not talk about this again. You are not going anywhere," Delia said quietly.

"Mom, I've never needed your permission to do anything before and I don't need it now. I'm leaving, whether you like it or not," said Ash, with irritation starting to seep in his voice. Pikachu's ears drooped as he studied his trainer and noticed the anger rising up within him. The yellow mouse immediately skittered over to Misty and settled himself in her lap.

"Becoming just like him already, aren't you?" Delia glared at Ash, a few tears threatening to spill from her eyes.

Misty watched Ash, who finally stopped eating and set down his fork. He took a deep breath and faced his mother with a cold yet determined face, "Nothing you say will make me change my mind." He got up and left the room, without looking back. Pikachu contemplated following him out but decided to stay put in Misty's lap as she unconsciously stroked his back making her lap a better place than his trainer's shoulder at the moment.

The redhead now turned towards Delia who somehow managed to look absolutely livid and devastated at the same time. She stifled a groan as she realized that this was all her fault, she was the one who put this idea in his head and now probably for the first time ever, Ash had an argument with his mom. Watching Mrs Ketchum attempting to hold back her tears made her feel absolutely terrible, and she knew that the reason Ash had walked out was because he didn't want them to see him cry. Misty decided to calm herself and take charge of the situation, she had convinced Ash to take this decision so now it was her duty to protect him and this decision. With all the confidence she could muster, Misty decided to tell Delia the truth.

"I'm sorry, Mrs Ketchum, this is entirely my fault. I put the idea in his head and now it's all just-"

"It's okay Misty, you don't have to apologize sweetheart," Delia replied, managing a small smile through her tears.

"But it is my fault. I thought this is what you wanted and I told Ash that, which I shouldn't have done because this is seriously none of my business. I shouldn't have interfered. I'm really sorry." Misty fought hard to hold back her own sob as it dawned on her how grave her mistake was.

Delia wiped her own tears and took a few minutes to compose herself, she then walked over and took the seat next to Misty's and put her arms around the redhead, enveloping her into a warm hug, "The reason I don't want Ash to start looking is because I'm afraid of what he might find," she said quietly. Misty wasn't sure how she should reply to this so she just returned the hug hoping to offer some comfort to the older woman.

"I have no idea where he is, whether he is good or evil, alive or…" Delia paused and swallowed the lump in her throat, not wanting to burst into tears again, "Right now we don't know anything, and that's a good thing. I wasn't lying when I told you that I wanted him to come back, because right now I'm actually capable of wanting it. But if Ash chases after the truth, then we will have a final answer and I'm not sure if I'm ready for that."

Misty understood what she was trying to say. She had been playing the same game with her feelings for Ash, always keeping up a neutral appearance and never confronting him, afraid of the final answer she might receive from him. She convinced herself that this way she was protecting them both, protecting their friendship and keeping them safe from feelings of regret and dislike.

"But now Misty, I think Ash just wants to end it. I think even if you hadn't talked to him about it, he would have sooner or later, reached this conclusion. He's going to go get his answer no matter what and I'm just worried that he'll get hurt and-"

"You don't have to, Mrs Ketchum. I'm going with him." Misty started, some confidence rushing back into her as she herself reached a decision in her head, "Even if he does get hurt, I'll be there with him. I'll protect him no matter what because I…"

Delia pulled back from the embrace and wiped the few tears that Misty hadn't noticed slip down her own cheeks, "I know, Misty. That's why I've decided not to stop him." She smiled, "Because I know that he has you, and I have _both_ of you."

Misty looked up to see that Delia was grinning at her and she felt herself blush from embarrassment as she realized that she'd basically told his mom how she felt about him instead of telling of him, how many others girls tackle their crushes like that, she thought. The two ladies seemed to have forgotten about the last occupant of the room and the yellow mouse made his presence known with a loud chirp, as he sat up in the redhead's lap.

"Of course, Pikachu, Ash and the rest of us are very lucky to have you by our side." Delia giggled as she picked up the pokemon cuddling him in her arms. Misty however, deadpanned since she knew how smart Pikachu was and he probably understood every bit of the conversation that just took place between her and Mrs Ketchum, she only hoped that she could buy his silence with a crate full of ketchup.

 **Sleeping together**

Mrs Ketchum wasn't really mad at them but she still wanted them to suffer a little bit, Misty concluded. Especially since now she was fully aware of the redhead's feelings for her son. Misty was sure that there was no accident at the Oak lab, and Tracey and Daisy had just been emotionally blackmailed by Ash's mom to claim that. She wasn't surprised in the least that her sister would betray her like this but she expected better from Tracey. But since the pokemon sketcher had already disappointed her by dating her sister she thought that maybe his betrayal should also not faze her anymore. According to the two, there had been a mishap in the Oak lab and they couldn't stay there anymore as their room was being occupied by Prof. Oak for the time being. Naturally Mrs Ketchum had to help them out by letting them stay with them, but the only room suitable for a couple was Ash's, which meant that Ash and Misty would have to set camp somewhere else their only options being sharing the couch on the living room or putting up a mattress in the attic. To any sane creature, this would seem like a set up. Even Mr Mime was clicking his tongue at them.

Ash being the puberty hitting teenage boy that he is, was very excited about sharing a couch with Misty against which, to everyone's surprise, Brock put up a convincing argument. Misty was happy that even if her sister abandoned her, she would still always have him play the role of an overbearing mother. Ash on the other hand intensely glared at Brock for the rest of the evening not realizing that the food he was wolfing down so enthusiastically had been cooked by that very friend. So the youngest inhabitants of the house were ushered up after dinner to their cramped and dingy attic, with the lonely mattress. That's right, there was only one mattress.

"Okay so that settles it, Ash you're sleeping on the floor." Misty stated firmly as she sat cross-legged on one corner of the mattress, indicating that this was her territory now.

"Excuse me? This is my house." Ash glared at her, plopping himself down on the other side of the mattress.

"Exactly, I'm the guest," said Misty.

"We've known each other way too long for you to play the guest card." Ash scoffed.

"I am not sleeping on the floor." Misty narrowed her eyes at him.

"You don't have to." Ash smirked at her, the excitement he had shown earlier in the evening over sharing sleeping space with the redhead returning to his eyes.

"Are you suggesting that we share this mattress? That is not happening either." Misty said, trying to sound serious but the blush creeping up her cheek made it lose its intensity.

"Don't flatter yourself, Mist. I'm not going to make a move on you." Ash snickered.

Pikachu who had been running around the two teenagers now stopped, sensing the wrath enveloping the redhead, he settled himself behind her assuming it to be a safe place in case things got violent. The mouse was well aware that when it came to his trainer, they always did.

There were a lot of things that Misty wanted to do in that moment, for instance she wanted to behead the boy sitting across her smirking infuriatingly but she decided to fight fire with fire, "Oh thank god, because being touched by you would be so gross."

Ash dropped the smirk immediately and flushed furiously, he heard Pikachu giggle and made a note to never talk to his pokemon ever again as he racked his brain for a comeback, "Oh yeah? Well you're the one who's gross."

"Am not!"

"Are too!"

And then it was over, each of them picked a side and buried themselves under their blankets, putting Pikachu in the middle as their boundary.

At first she was very angry, so it was easy for her to fall asleep as she dreamt up ways to make Ash go mysteriously missing when they left next week to start their search for his dad. But her slumber didn't last long as she awoke sometime after midnight to the other occupant of the mattress tossing and turning constantly.

"Ash?" she asked quietly, turning on her side to face his impatient figure.

He stopped moving instantly and faced her, pulling just his head out of the blanket he asked gloomily, "Shit, did I wake you?"

"No but the fact that you just cursed might have," Misty replied with wide eyes, pretending to supress a gasp.

Ash rolled his eyes at her and attempted again to find a comfortable position and then failing once more to do so, he finally sighed in defeat and rolled on his side to face Misty.

"What's wrong?" Misty asked, keeping her voice down as Pikachu was still sleeping soundly.

"I'm just not used to sleeping on the edge of something." Ash replied absent-mindedly as he moved a little closer to the redhead without realizing what he was doing.

To forget about the heat that suddenly started coursing through her body at the thought of Ash being merely inches away from her, Misty decided to make small talk.

"Pikachu's sleeping pretty soundly huh?" she said.

"Yeah. I guess he was pretty tired after playing around with the pokemon over at the lab all day." Ash replied, not bothering to keep his voice down, because of which he received a smack on his head from the redhead lying next to him.

As Ash rubbed the affected spot on his head with a pout, Misty patted Pikachu lightly she always loved how soft his fur felt and if she wasn't aware of his powerful electric attacks, she wouldn't have minded making him her pillow right now.

"Looks like you missed Pikachu more than you missed me."

Misty's eyes turned to Ash, his brown eyes were fixed on her in a manner that felt extremely intruding to her. She could feel her cheeks turning red and wondered how much Ash could see with just a stream of moonlight through the small window illuminating the dark attic. His eyes stayed on her, and she understood that he'd get the answer out of her no matter what so to cut the torture short she replied quietly.

"It's not like that, I missed you too, Ash."

"How much?"

"A lot."

"Prove it."

Misty's eyes widened and her heartbeat increased rapidly in the instant that Ash's words registered in her head. His gaze was still fixed at her and his eyes shone with an expectation for something. He was lying just a few inches away from her, she could easily lean in and…but somehow it wouldn't feel right. This was something that both she and Ash always tiptoed around, and to finish the game so quickly would simply be boring.

She reached out her hand and rested it on his cheek, stroking it gently with her thumb, "I missed you so much Ash," she managed to murmur, despite of feeling completely breathless. His skin felt hot and she wondered if it was because of the thick blanket or because of the same rush of emotions that she was experiencing.

His eyes shone with a new kind of excitement now. He leaned into her touch and slowly closed his eyes, smiling goofily he muttered quietly, "Me too."

She pulled back her hand and was about to close her eyes and fall asleep too when she felt Ash move again, only this time he carefully picked up the sleeping Pikachu from between them and placed him on the other side of the mattress and then took the mouse's position next to the redhead himself. He met her quizzical look with a huge grin, "I told you, I don't like sleeping on the edge."

 **Through the eyes of others**

She wasn't sure but her plan to put the two teens in an uncomfortable position last night had somehow backfired. Delia watched Ash and Misty talk as she sat knitting a new muffler for her son. She had expected them to be embarrassed around each other and she had been looking forward to watch them squirm after the debacle at yesterday's breakfast but it seemed that her tactic had had an exactly opposite effect. For starters, they were sitting way too close for a couple of _'just friends'_. Although Delia was glad that his son had finally started to notice _humans_ and her chances of having grandkids had risen up again, she had just wanted to tease the two teenagers a little bit before they left for their journey again. Looking at the two now with Ash telling her something or other about his adventures and Misty laughing or giggling like a schoolgirl, it seemed to Delia nothing less of out rightly asking them to get married instantly would get them to stutter and blush. But somehow watching them like this also filled her with warmth, so she decided to let the two kids revel in the beauty of first love for now and leave the teasing for when they came back with her husband.

"Why does it totally feel like you totally did it last night?"

Misty dropped the bottle of water she was holding, thankful that it was closed and none of it spilled out as she stared at her sister with a gaping mouth, " _What?_ "

"I mean you have this glow on your face, the kind girls have after they do it for the first time." Daisy replied as she continued filing her nails. The Cerulean sisters were sitting in the garden and enjoying the sunny weather in complete silence until of course the older one got sick of the goofy smile covering her sister's face.

"We did not do anything." Misty replied furiously, her face a deep shade of red.

"Okay did he like kiss you?"

"No he didn't! Can you please stop talking now?" Misty screamed at her sister and plucked some grass and tossed it at her sister for good measure. Daisy shrieked and spent the next fifteen minutes trying brush off the grass blades from her new dress. After she settled down, she decided to irk her little sister again.

"Wow, Ash is such a slowpoke. Pick up the pace, Ketchum." Daisy muttered, observing her nails closely. Misty didn't respond to this, she just closed her eyes and relaxed in her chair, hoping that her sister would go away if she acted aloof.

"I mean Violet was fifteen when she lost her virginity," Daisy continued.

" _Oh my god_."

"I'm just saying-"

" _Stop_. Stop speaking Daisy!"

"That you and Ash make such a cute couple, you deserve _all_ kinds of pleasure and-" Daisy didn't get a chance to finish her sentence as a red-face and fuming Misty picked up her chair and started to make her way back inside the house making the blonde laugh loudly in triumph. Mrs Ketchum might have failed in making her sister squirm, but Daisy was the eldest of four sisters, no one knew how to push the buttons of teenage girls better than her.

-x-

 **A/N:** Reviews will always be appreciated. Thank you for reading!


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N:** Happy Pokeshipping Day, everyone! Though there is nothing happy about my story, I don't know why this prompt just screamed angst at me for some reason. Seriously, read at your own risk. Also this is not a continuation of the first chapter, just the last prompt for the week.

 **Life as a Couple**

There were moments he remembered and moments he didn't. Hazy memories constantly zoomed in his head, never arriving a clear destination. He tried to register the faces that came and sat in front of him day by day, some of them similar to those in his memories, some not. Even if they were, he was told by the doctor, he was the one who was unable to remember them. _Remember._ He heard that word countless times in a day, almost always coupled with _me_ in a questioning tone. _Remember me, Ash?_ We met at _xyz_ when you were _xyz_ … Always the same questions, always the same answers, always the same tone… It had been going on for about a year now, and Ash was starting to tire. _Ash Ketchum._ That's what his name was supposed to be. It was surprising that he didn't remember his own name when he woke up that fateful day but he remembered the lifeless body of his dear friend, the one he hadn't been able to save, the one who had saved him in exchange for his life, his best friend and first companion, his Pikachu.

He heard the doctors talk to his family about how this was a side-effect of going through a traumatic experience, that he was erasing his memories to cope with the pain. He laughed at that. If that was the case then why couldn't he just get rid of the image of Pikachu lying on the ground, completely still, not breathing… why was _this_ the only piece of memory that he wasn't letting go of?

"Daddy, how are you feeling today?"

He hadn't notice the door open and he was a little surprised to have company so early in the morning. Usually everyone in the house slept in late on Sundays, including him, and he was going to gloat over being the first one up today but it seemed that someone had already beaten him to it. A pair of brown eyes similar to his stared up at him expectantly, a huge smile covered every inch of his daughter's face as she promptly sat herself down opposite him on the bed, "I helped with breakfast!" she exclaimed.

"I'm feeling fine, Fel," Ash returned the smile, though not in the same proportion, "I'm looking forward to eating it then."

Unlike his daughter's entry going unnoticed, Ash would never fail to notice the flash of orange hair which was still as bright as the day he had first met her, a memory he was surprised he still remembered. She came in carrying his breakfast, and immediately her eyes fell on their daughter.

"Felicity, I thought I told you to go wake up your brother," Misty said as she set the tray of food down in front of Ash and turned to frown at her daughter.

"I tried, he didn't budge," Felicity pouted in reply, hoping to sway her mother.

"He has a very important training session at the Lab today, please go wake him up sweetheart," Misty sighed as she nudged Ash to make space for her on his side of the bed.

"Fine." Felicity muttered dejectedly as she dragged her feet out of the room slowly, not wanting to see her brother so early in the morning.

Ash inspected the tray of food lying in front of him as Misty rested her head on his shoulder, four pancakes and sliced fruits, simple and easy to eat just the way he liked it, "Wow, Fel did all this?" he wondered aloud.

Misty snorted in reply, "All she did was make that smiley face on the pancake with whipped cream and even that is lopsided."

"Tch, Mist," Ash clicked his tongue as he began to dig in, "Always the perfectionist."

Misty didn't reply, she closed her eyes and tried her best to etch this scene in her head for harder days ahead, few rays of sunlight creeping through the curtains, a warm December morning, Felicity's faint voice floating through the halls as she attempted to wake up AJ, the sweet smell of maple syrup, Ash's calm, rhythmic heartbeat and his content eyes.

She still wasn't used to him being there. First he was missing for three months, then he was in a coma for another two, then he woke up not remembering his own name. It had been a difficult year and a half for all of them, but they were getting through it. She was going to get him through it, that's what she had vowed when they had exchanged rings sixteen years ago, that she would forever hold his hand walk and with him through fire if she had to. The past year had been exactly that, but she hadn't wavered. Surprisingly, Ash hadn't either. He accepted everything that had happened calmly, he understood that he wouldn't recover immediately so he didn't force himself to get better. He didn't hide anything from her, she was aware of every single thing he felt, all his nightmares, all his pain, he shared everything with her. He didn't refrain from asking for help, even from the kids. He was working the hardest to get better and not giving up, reminding her every day of the reason she had fallen in love with him in the first place.

"How'd you know I was up? I thought you slept in Fel's room last night." Ash asked, closed to finishing the pancakes.

"Turns out our daughter is a huge kicker, I barely got any sleep last night trying to avoid her feet," Misty said, opening her eyes briefly, only to notice that the fruits were completely untouched, "Ash. You have to eat _everything_ on the tray."

Ash groaned in reply, "How about we share?"

"I already ate two hours ago," she said, stifling a yawn.

"Wow, you really didn't sleep at all." Ash muttered, picking up a tiny grape from the bowl and popping it in his mouth.

"Uh huh. And I still have to get AJ to his session, so do you really want to put me in a bad mood right now?" Misty lifted her head to glance at Ash, a small smile playing on her lips.

"For the sake of my son's safety, I shall eat everything in this bowl," Ash said, laughing lightly.

Misty settled her head on his shoulder once more, replaying the sound of his laughter in her mind again and again as it was something she didn't get to hear often these days. She didn't realize when she drifted off to sleep, she was surrounded by so much warmth and everything smelled like Ash that she almost didn't want to wake up. But remembering the big day ahead of her she forced her eyes to open only to realize that afternoon had already settled in. She reached out her hands to find that the bed next to her was empty which made her sit up immediately. Ash liked to spend Sundays resting _inside_ since that was the only day they didn't have any visitors so it was a little concerning when he wasn't in their room. Climbing out of all the blankets that she was sure was the work of her husband, she rushed down the stairs following the voice of her daughter's laughter and ended up in the kitchen to find Ash and the little devils standing around the stove, inspecting something extremely black.

Ash noticed her instantly, and put up an apologetic pout, "Misty, I can explain-"

"Dad wanted to cook lunch for you!" Felicity giggled, interrupting her father before he even had the chance to begin.

"But he really sucks at it," AJ added, snickering. Ash smacked his head, his face turning red as Misty just stood in the kitchen doorway, staring blankly at them.

"I followed Mom's recipe exactly the way it was written and it still ended up like this," Ash started again, throwing a scowl in the direction of the pan filled with something that could only be described as _stuff_ , "Honestly, I just wanted to do something nice for you beca-" He didn't get to finish again because within seconds Misty covered the distance between them and jumped into his arms, a little surprised he still managed to catch her wrapping his arms safely around her. She answered his confusion by pressing her lips to his and it didn't take long for Ash to respond. She could hear her son _shouting there are kids in this room_ in the background, but in that moment she decided that she had never been happier.

-x-

 **A/N:** Reviews are always appreciated, thank you for reading!


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